Here is some audio technology research I did before deciding to buy a Sennheisser headset. This is some serious investment we are talking about. Think it out very well and make a proper decision. All prices are mentioned in US Dollars as they are not that different in the US and in India.
By 'headset' I will be referring to headgear with a mic and by 'headphone' to the one without a mic.
Few terms you need to know if you are new to audio technology like I was:
1) Drivers:
Drivers are the speakers on the left and right.
2) Soundstage:
To put into very simple terms, while listening to music if you want the feeling of sitting in an opera theatre and being able to make out precisely and directionally the violin being played by the 4th musician from the left you will want to invest in better soundstage. Also hearing footsteps while gaming comes under soundstage. It basically means how well you can perceive the surroundings.
3) Open back and Closed back
In an open back headphone the casing of the drivers is not closed to the external environment and it will give you better access to sounds in surrounding. Closed back headphones are made such that they are completely noise cancelling and give an immersive experience. However, open back headphones give a better soundstage and are preferred for gaming. Closed back ones are preferred for focused listening of music.
4) Circumaural and supra-aural
Circumaural means that the headphone drivers are big enough to completely cover your ear. The won't press on your ear and the cushion would rest around it. Supra-aural are the ones which press against your ear. Circumaural ones are better at noise cancelling.
5) Impedance
Impedance is the resistance that your headphone offers to the analog signal. Higher the resistance lower would be the amplitude of the signal, resulting in more power requirement. For example,if you keep the sound level same for comparison, the headphone with a higher impedance would give out lesser sound.
6) Frequency response
If you search for high quality headphones on the internet this is something you will hear a lot about but not understand if not familiar. Its simple. Lower the frequencies your headphone can go to, the better you will 'feel' the music. You must have guessed it, i'm talking about bass. Lower frequency response generates better bass and better music experience for certain genres like metal and rock music. The explosions you hear in games would be better 'felt' with good bass.
7) Mono and Stereo
The ability of being able to make out the direction from which the sound is coming is absent in mono. In case of stereo controlled sound is available from 2 drivers and you can make out if sound came form left or right side. So if a person talks something close to your left ear, mono will make it sound like he is standing in the front giving out uniform sound in both left and right speakers, whereas stereo will make sure you get the realistic left side sound effect.
8) Surround and virtual surround sound:
In surround sound systems like 7.1 and 5.1 you will see multiple speakers kept around the room. With software gimmick and a USB connection headphones have the technology to create 5.1 and 7.1 surround virtually using 2 drivers.
9) Digital and analog connectors
Digital connector : USB - cannot use on smartphone.
Analog connector : 3.5mm jack - can use on smartphone.
10) Sound card:
The 3.5mm female jack is your connection to system sound card which does audio processing. It takes a digital input from the system and outputs analog signal. If you buy a $300 headphone and connect it to your computer via a cheap low quality sound card, the quality of sound will be far lower than you expect. The sound card quality has to be on par to the headphone quality you are going for.
11) Audiophiles:
People who buy headgear costing nothing less than $200-$250 and focus only on audio quality. :)
Now you may have the following answers:
1) Purely for music
Now that you have decided this, it is obvious that you do not need a mic coupled with the headset. So your investment will be based purely on audio quality and nothing else. The type of music you like also matters here. You will need better response on lower frequencies if you hear metal and rock and better on the higher frequencies if you listen to classical.
Let me tell you that most of the headgear in the world belongs to this category. There is a lot available on the market and even companies like Sennheiser sell awesome headphones at just $100 which is comparatively cheaper and 'bang for the buck' than the big guns out there.
2) For gaming
If this is your decision, you will be more focused on the bass i.e. how well you experience the explosions and soundstage i.e. how well you can hear the footsteps if someone is lurking behind you. The audio quality may or may not be as good as pure headphones, but it depends on the model. The mic quality of purely gaming headsets is not that good as it is not a necessity for gaming. So they incline on improving the soundstage and frequency response more. For example, the Kingston HyperX Cloud II gaming headsets are great but the mic recording sounds modulated and artificial.
3) For video chatting and music
You may be away from family at college or on tour and need a way to chat with them without sounding like a robot and hearing their voice as realistically as possible. Now we are talking about a headset that is a combo of both high quality drivers and mic(Eg. Sennheisser headsets are the best I found for this category).
Caution:
1) Some headphones have a USB connector just to provide power, so they wont work with USB connection(Klipsch KG200 - excellent headset by the way!). This makes them unsuitable to carry around for trips and plug in to music player unless you have a power bank.
2) The foldable headphones may come at an attractive price and they are highly portable, as sometimes they can be dismantled to pieces(Steelseries 5H v3). But more number of joints can prove to be a disaster. If the contacts become loose, problems like sound coming out of only one speaker may happen. That is why unibody headsets with no volume controls along the wire are preferred.
Want best of both worlds?
Here is what audiophiles who are gamers as well do:
1) Buy an expensive headphone according to their need.
2) Buy a separate attachable microphone. The best in the market seems to be the AntLion ModMic. It magnetically attaches to your headphone whenever you need it.
However the ModMic costs as much as moderate quality headphone so this combo is a bigger investment.
Happy hunting! :)
By 'headset' I will be referring to headgear with a mic and by 'headphone' to the one without a mic.
1) Drivers:
Drivers are the speakers on the left and right.
2) Soundstage:
To put into very simple terms, while listening to music if you want the feeling of sitting in an opera theatre and being able to make out precisely and directionally the violin being played by the 4th musician from the left you will want to invest in better soundstage. Also hearing footsteps while gaming comes under soundstage. It basically means how well you can perceive the surroundings.
3) Open back and Closed back
In an open back headphone the casing of the drivers is not closed to the external environment and it will give you better access to sounds in surrounding. Closed back headphones are made such that they are completely noise cancelling and give an immersive experience. However, open back headphones give a better soundstage and are preferred for gaming. Closed back ones are preferred for focused listening of music.
4) Circumaural and supra-aural
Circumaural means that the headphone drivers are big enough to completely cover your ear. The won't press on your ear and the cushion would rest around it. Supra-aural are the ones which press against your ear. Circumaural ones are better at noise cancelling.
5) Impedance
Impedance is the resistance that your headphone offers to the analog signal. Higher the resistance lower would be the amplitude of the signal, resulting in more power requirement. For example,if you keep the sound level same for comparison, the headphone with a higher impedance would give out lesser sound.
6) Frequency response
If you search for high quality headphones on the internet this is something you will hear a lot about but not understand if not familiar. Its simple. Lower the frequencies your headphone can go to, the better you will 'feel' the music. You must have guessed it, i'm talking about bass. Lower frequency response generates better bass and better music experience for certain genres like metal and rock music. The explosions you hear in games would be better 'felt' with good bass.
7) Mono and Stereo
The ability of being able to make out the direction from which the sound is coming is absent in mono. In case of stereo controlled sound is available from 2 drivers and you can make out if sound came form left or right side. So if a person talks something close to your left ear, mono will make it sound like he is standing in the front giving out uniform sound in both left and right speakers, whereas stereo will make sure you get the realistic left side sound effect.
8) Surround and virtual surround sound:
In surround sound systems like 7.1 and 5.1 you will see multiple speakers kept around the room. With software gimmick and a USB connection headphones have the technology to create 5.1 and 7.1 surround virtually using 2 drivers.
9) Digital and analog connectors
Digital connector : USB - cannot use on smartphone.
Analog connector : 3.5mm jack - can use on smartphone.
The 3.5mm female jack is your connection to system sound card which does audio processing. It takes a digital input from the system and outputs analog signal. If you buy a $300 headphone and connect it to your computer via a cheap low quality sound card, the quality of sound will be far lower than you expect. The sound card quality has to be on par to the headphone quality you are going for.
11) Audiophiles:
People who buy headgear costing nothing less than $200-$250 and focus only on audio quality. :)
Now we know the basics! Lets start! We will do this in a Q n A format so its easier.
Question 1: What is your budget?
Answer to this is everything. I would say keep your budget flexible to the range of plus/minus $30-$35. For example, if you set a hard budget filter for your searches on online shopping websites, something you want truly and are ready to invest slightly more for, will not show up in search results and you would miss out! However do check for cheaper option too as you may find something tha tis bang for the buck.
Question 2: Are you buying a headset for gaming, for video chatting or purely for music?
Now that you have decided this, it is obvious that you do not need a mic coupled with the headset. So your investment will be based purely on audio quality and nothing else. The type of music you like also matters here. You will need better response on lower frequencies if you hear metal and rock and better on the higher frequencies if you listen to classical.
Let me tell you that most of the headgear in the world belongs to this category. There is a lot available on the market and even companies like Sennheiser sell awesome headphones at just $100 which is comparatively cheaper and 'bang for the buck' than the big guns out there.
If this is your decision, you will be more focused on the bass i.e. how well you experience the explosions and soundstage i.e. how well you can hear the footsteps if someone is lurking behind you. The audio quality may or may not be as good as pure headphones, but it depends on the model. The mic quality of purely gaming headsets is not that good as it is not a necessity for gaming. So they incline on improving the soundstage and frequency response more. For example, the Kingston HyperX Cloud II gaming headsets are great but the mic recording sounds modulated and artificial.
You may be away from family at college or on tour and need a way to chat with them without sounding like a robot and hearing their voice as realistically as possible. Now we are talking about a headset that is a combo of both high quality drivers and mic(Eg. Sennheisser headsets are the best I found for this category).
1) Some headphones have a USB connector just to provide power, so they wont work with USB connection(Klipsch KG200 - excellent headset by the way!). This makes them unsuitable to carry around for trips and plug in to music player unless you have a power bank.
2) The foldable headphones may come at an attractive price and they are highly portable, as sometimes they can be dismantled to pieces(Steelseries 5H v3). But more number of joints can prove to be a disaster. If the contacts become loose, problems like sound coming out of only one speaker may happen. That is why unibody headsets with no volume controls along the wire are preferred.
Want best of both worlds?
Here is what audiophiles who are gamers as well do:
1) Buy an expensive headphone according to their need.
2) Buy a separate attachable microphone. The best in the market seems to be the AntLion ModMic. It magnetically attaches to your headphone whenever you need it.
However the ModMic costs as much as moderate quality headphone so this combo is a bigger investment.
Happy hunting! :)
